March and Demonstration At the Gate of Fort Meade, Maryland For the second day of Bradley Manning's Preliminary Hearing Marchers Send Manning Happy Birthday Greeting By the time Bradley Manning supporters set off on Saturday for the two mile march from the main gate of Fort Meade to the gate nearest the hearing site, they numbered at least 300 people. The group was quite spirited and, despite Anne Arundel County Police efforts to keep marchers on the sidewalk, there were too many of them and they were too determined to spread out into the street. The police, wisely, let the marcher have some space. A friend and I had driven down from Philadelphia and arrived a littl e early. At the local Dunkin Donut we found ourselves in line behind two Anne Arundel County officers there to pick up their daily allotment of donuts. They were friendly and we chatted about being there for the Manning hearing. They proudly told us the department had provided two porta-potties for the convenience of demonstrators. They told us to be safe and stay on the sidewalk. A witness to Friday's opening day of the hearing said, despite the nasty and shameful treatment by the military early on in his captivity, Manning looked healthy and chatted easily with his attorneys. He notably made no eye-contact and did not in any way recognize the many sympathizers in the courtroom. This seemed a prudent decision of his attorneys. Manning's attorneys made a number of motions, all or most of which were rejected. I was told only two of 38 requested witnesses for Manning were allowed by the military judges. When the hearing was over and people were filing out, VFP national board member Nate Goldshlag hollered "Bradley Manning is a hero!" This sort of thing was frowned upon and he was told not to return in the future. Following the spirited two mile march, a number of speakers addressed the crowd. Saturday was Bradley Manning's 24th birthday, so following the last speaker singer-songwriter Dave Rovics led the group in singing Happy Birthday to Manning. Here was a courageous young man who fits all the criteria of a "whistleblower" who (allegedly) provided The New York Times and dozens of other mainstream news outlets with cable information and details on how the government we pay taxes to acts around the world in our name. Since WikiLeaks released all this cable traffic, a week has not gone by that at least one New York Times reporter has not cited some bit of WikiLeaks information inside his or her story. While Manning rots in prison and has to fight for his life, mainstream media reporters continue to use the material he allegedly provided. Yet, many of them are essentially just letting him hang out to dry. If that's not bad enough, what's really absurd is after all this material has been made public members of the military are under orders to act as if it's still a big secret -- sort of like making everybody in uniform act like Sergeant Shultz in Hogan's Heroes: "I see nothing!" Let's just say, the situation seems to get more absurd every day. Everyone demonstrating on Saturday outside the Fort Meade base made it clear they felt Bradley Manning is an American Hero. The hearing is expected to last maybe a week or more. Former US Army Colonel Ann Wright, left, talked about the heroism and suffering of young Bradley Manning; military interrogator Michael Patterson, 21, center, told what it was like working in military intelligence in Iraq; and, right, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern spoke about the fundamental absurdity of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen saying Bradley Manning "has blood on his hands." For the top general who, until recently, ran and maintained the wars in question to accuse a whistleblower of having blood on HIS hands was, to McGovern, a joke of pure hubris. Singer-songwriter Dave Rovics stands behind McGovern. John Grant Veterans For Peace Philadelphia * * * Hundreds Rally in Support of Accused WikiLeaks Source By Charles Davis Monday December 19, 2011 Nation of Change Hundreds of people gathered today outside a U.S. military base where evidence against Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking classified information to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, is being presented before a military judge for the first time since Manning's arrest. An U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Manning was arrested in May 2010 by U.S. military police in Iraq when a government informant reported him to law enforcement after he allegedly confessed to leaking to the public scores of classified information containing evidence of corruption and war crimes. He has been charged with aiding "the enemy" through the disclosures, a charge that carries the possibility of death, though prosecutors says they are seeking a life sentence. "Bradley shouldn't be doing time for the Pentagon's war crimes," chanted approximately 300 supporters outside the gates of Maryland's Fort Meade, home of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), as dozens of police and a helicopter circling above looked on. The rally, one of 50 taking place across the world, coincided with Manning's 24th birthday and the second day of court hearings aimed at determining whether evidence against him is sufficient to proceed to trial. According to Manning's counsel, David E. Coombs, the hearings are expected to conclude before Christmas. Manning is accused of leaking video evidence of a 2007 massacre outside Baghdad in which at least 18 people, including two Reuters journalists, were killed by U.S. troops in what many consider a war crime. He also reportedly leaked hundreds of thousands of State Department cables exposing U.S. support for dictatorial regimes, the Obama administration's responsibility for a missile strike in Yemen that killed dozens of women and children and the cover-up of child rape by private U.S. military contractors in Afghanistan. Exposing America's "dark underbelly" "He did the right thing," said Michael Patterson, a 21-year-old Alaska native and veteran of the Iraq war. A former U.S. Army interrogator, Patterson credits Manning - and the "Collateral Murder" video of the 2007 massacre in Baghdad in particular - with finally turning him against a war he once supported. Rather than making him a traitor, he said, Manning's actions demonstrated his commitment to upholding a "soldier's honor". Manning knew his commanders would be unwilling to act on the evidence of war crimes he witnessed, said Patterson. "So he went outside the influence of the government and gave it to an entity that was for the public good. And now you have a revolution in the Arab world and you have a revolution in the United States." Despite White House claims that the disclosures threatened U.S. national security and the lives of U.S. informants named in diplomatic cables, a State Department review conducted earlier this year concluded that they had caused no serious damage. At the rally, protesters from around the country - including more than 40 from the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York - waved signs and chanted slogans proclaiming Manning a hero who was being prosecuted not for endangering America, but for exposing the dark underbelly of the American empire. "When truth and justice are in jeopardy, it is the job of the solider to stand up and fight for a peace that transcends," said Lieutenant Dan Choi, a prominent activist who was discharged from the military for being openly gay. "Bradley Manning did that and he should be free." "He is not the one on trial," Choi added. "The United States of America is on trial." Though charged with aiding the enemy, Manning - based on online conversations he reportedly had with the informant who turned him in - explained that he was motivated by a desire to inform the American people about what was being carried out in their name. "If you had free reign over classified networks... and you saw incredible things, awful things... what would you do?" Manning reportedly asked. "I want people to see the truth, because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public," he wrote. Manning's imprisonment Manning's case has become an international cause celebre not just because of what he allegedly disclosed, but also because of the way he has been treated in captivity. For the first 10 months of his imprisonment, Manning was denied almost all contact with the outside world and held in solitary confinement 23-hours-a-day, contrary to the recommendations of mental health professionals and despite the fact he had not yet been to trial, much less convicted of a crime. In March, the chief spokesman for the U.S. State Department, PJ Crowley, resigned after publicly remarking, "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Human rights group Amnesty International also denounced Manning's pre-trial detention conditions as "inhumane", criticism that ultimately led him to be transferred from Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia to Kansas's Fort Leavenworth, where supporters say his treatment has improved. But the Obama administration continues to steadfastly refuse requests by the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture to meet with Manning as part of an investigation into his treatment at Quantico. That fact led more than 50 members of the European Parliament to send a letter to President Obama and other top U.S. officials late last month demanding that U.N. access to Manning be allowed in light of reports that he "has been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and other abusive treatment tantamount to torture". The Centre for Constitutional Rights, meanwhile, filed a petition on Dec. 16 with the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals demanding that lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be allowed full access to the proceedings against Manning. Many observers speculate that Manning's harsh and unusual treatment is both an attempt to intimidate other would-be whistle-blowers as well as an effort to intimidate Manning into testifying against Assange, who is currently the subject of a U.S. grand jury investigation. This article was published at NationofChange at: http://www.nationofchange.org/hundreds-rally-support-accused-wikileaks-source-1324310489. * * * Bradley Manning makes court appearance in WikiLeaks case   Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, left, is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, after the first day of a military hearing that will determine if he should face court-martial for his alleged role in the WikiLeaks classified leaks case. Manning is suspected of being the source in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history. MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE FORT MEADE, Md. -- A hearing to determine whether Army Pfc. Bradley Manning should face charges of illegally releasing thousands of classified U.S. military documents opened Friday with the defense questioning the presiding officer’s objectivity. No witnesses were called on the first day of what’s expected to be an eight-day preliminary hearing in a closely watched case. Manning, who turns 24 on Saturday, is facing charges including espionage — which carries a life sentence — for releasing to WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and at least two videos that marked one of the largest security breaches in U.S. history. The presiding officer in the military hearing, Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, a U.S. Army Reservist, rejected Manning’s attorney’s argument that he should recuse himself because of his work as a former prosecutor for the Justice Department, which is conducting its own investigation of Manning. The prosecution backed Almanza’s argument that he could be impartial. The evidentiary hearing, known as an Article 32 hearing, is scheduled to resume Saturday morning. Making his first court appearance, Manning sat unemotionally behind the defense table wearing dark-rimmed glasses and a combat patch from the 10th Mountain Division on his Army uniform. He stared ahead, not glancing at the row of supporters sitting behind him and his defense team, which includes two military lawyers. After 19 months in military custody at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., he appeared thin but healthy. Asked by Almanza if he had the charging documents in front of him, Manning, who had not been heard from since his arrest in May 2010, said, “Yes, sir, I do.” Court documents indicate that the defense will argue that Manning’s commanders ignored warnings that the former Army intelligence analyst had mental health issues and that the command structure where he was stationed in Baghdad had collapsed. That allowed Manning to download thousands of classified documents, which he reportedly stored on CDs that he labeled as Lady Gaga music — and ended up posted online by WikiLeaks. Manning’s civilian attorney, David Coombs, argued that Almanza purposely delayed the hearing in the hope that a national security incident would occur that prosecutors could pin on Manning’s release of the documents. The documents included hundreds of thousands of secret State Department cables and military reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Arguing that the leak hasn’t directly jeopardized U.S. national security, Coombs asked, “Where is the damage? Where is the harm?” Coombs also argued that the fact that Almanza approved all 20 of the government’s witnesses — and only about a dozen of 48 offered by the defense — demonstrated bias against Manning. The defense said it would appeal Almanza’s decision to stay on as investigating officer. An Article 32 hearing is similar to a grand jury hearing, except that the defendant can be present and can cross-examine witnesses. The investigating officer acts as both a judge and grand jury do in criminal trials, and not only determines whether the case goes forward but also what the charges should be. The hearing was taking place under tight security. The Army has placed strict restrictions on reporters covering the trial, limiting Internet access and forbidding recordings. Protesters, many supporting Manning, were gathered outside a military courthouse at Fort Meade. Inside the courtroom was a mixture of leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement, peace activists, government lawyers and members of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s legal team. Edward T. Hall III, 25, one of the founding members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and several of his supporters sat in the seats behind Manning. Manning “sent ripples of truth around the world an those created tsunamis of movements,” Hall said in an interview. “He empowered us.” Immediately after the proceedings adjourned Friday, one man walking out of the courtroom yelled, “Bradley Manning, you are a hero.” Manning did not react.